


Tales of Ladybird and Kuroko

by Phoenix_Rise



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Brief Aspik, Brief Multimouse, F/F, How Do I Tag, I'm an American writing Japanese into Paris, No Beta, Please Forgive me, Post Hawkmoth, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, the one that gets me back into things, the plot wouldn't leave me alone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:00:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25975600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_Rise/pseuds/Phoenix_Rise
Summary: With Hawkmoth defeated, Marinette can relax, or so she thinks. In the brief respite between villains, she establishes a family with her long time crush, gets a foot in the fashion industry door, and learns more about what it is to be a guardian. Her only regret is the missing butterfly brooch, which comes back to bite her. She makes a decision to pass the miraculous along after her partner expresses his discomfort at becoming a hero again, especially being the son of the previous villain. Lucky for her, two candidates have recently popped into their lives, and will carry on in their stead.This is the story of how a painter and a singer fall in love on two sides of the mask
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Kudos: 2





	1. Before they were heroes

The time came when Ladybug had to give up the mantle. Unwillingly, but she had a family to support, and neither her nor Adrien could drop everything and deal with another attack. It had also been a blow to Adrien to discover his father was Hawkmoth, and he didn’t want to continue being Chat Noir knowing his father had been a villain. So, when a villain calling themselves Papillion attacked Marinette’s work, she panicked and ran back to the miracle box, only to discover a fake brooch. She didn’t want to be Ladybug without her partner, and quickly found a candidate, texting her husband to do the same.

One heartfelt goodbye later, Marinette passed the earrings to the young girl who her parents had hired to help in the bakery over the summer. Iris Baker, Marinette believed her name was. She had caught the girl with paint on her several times, even helping wash it out of her hair on one occasion. Marinette knew she had the creative capabilities to be a Ladybug, and her instincts told her she would be a good fit. So, she slipped the red and black box into the girls bag.

Adrien’s goodbye was just as heartfelt, despite Plagg’s personality. His candidate was a quiet girl whom he modelled with, and had caught her on several occasions helping others behind the scenes. Mari agreed, and thus Plagg was slipped into the bag of one Utau Hanasaki. The singer and model was the first to find her box, as Papillion had attacked close enough to her workplace to send her scrambling, and close enough to the end of her day that she had her bag on her.

Iris, despite being the second to find her box, was the first to transform. Not wanting to tarnish the reputation of the previous Ladybug, the red and black heroine took on the name Ladybird. Ladybird’s honey blonde hair was bound in a high ponytail, and her costume consisted of a red base with black gloves that reached to her upper arms and black thigh high boots. Her mask was the same red with a thin black outline. Utau paid homage to her Japanese heritage, naming herself Kuroki. Her black hair was woven into a thick braid that reached to the small of her back, though the rest of her costume was quite similar to Chat Noir. The differences lay in the details, Kuroko’s costume losing the glove-like cuffs in favor of a smooth transition from glove to sleeve, and her costume lost the bell and belt. Her staff now hooked to her right thigh instead of the lower back. 

Despite both heroines being new, the fight took very little time, as if the new Papillion was just testing the waters and getting used to her powers, or sending a message, if they were to believe the swarm of butterflies that mirrored Hawkmoth’s first message.


	2. In the eyes of a Baker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris finds a place close enough for Tikki to visit, meets her pretty partner, and gets to know her as well as she can while maintaining secret identities

Iris rarely overslept. However, she was easily distracted in painting. The new school year found the twenty two year old in her studio and covered in paint. If it weren’t for the alarms she had set, she would have been late by several hours at least. As it was, she didn’t have time to change into paint free clothes, barely leaving enough time to wash the paint off her hands and brushes. Her morning run across Paris’s rooftops had given her the inspiration she so desperately needed, and had sent her into a painting frenzy as soon as she got back. She had Tikki to thank for reminding her to set alarms, the little kwami giggling and mentioning the previous holder had nearly the same habit, though she was more of a night owl than an early bird. Iris had noted the underlying current of sadness in the kwami, thinking of ways she could visit the previous Ladybug after classes let out. Leaving friends behind sucked, and she wanted to give back to the kwami that gave so much.

Once Iris got to school and settled into her first general education class, she took a second to admire the girl in front of her. Black hair was braided and fell over one slender shoulder, adorned by a pale blue tee. Her aura reminded Iris of the night, and she longed to translate it into a painting. She settled for sketching it out on her tablet until class started and she had to shelve it in favor of good grades.

Once classes ended for the day, Iris slipped off to a secluded area where she could talk to Tikki.

“Tikki, the old Ladybug is still in Paris, isn’t she? You seemed kind of sad this morning when talking about her, so I thought maybe you wanted to visit her. I don’t have to meet her, just be in the area in the event Papillion strikes again. Plus, this is the best way to send the message to meet up and touch base.” Iris hadn’t meant to ramble, but had been struck with a sudden idea. Ladybird had effectively avoided the press the previous day, but knew she would eventually have to answer their questions, and she had a feeling that her current answer of “I’m just as in the dark as you” wouldn’t go over so well.

“I think she is, though it might be hard for me to meet her. Her place of work isn’t exactly secluded. Thank you, Iris.” Tikki gave her a quick hug before giving the location of a nearby park and disappearing into her bag to munch on a cookie.

After getting to the park, she whispered a quick goodbye to Tikki and settled in to work on the digital painting she shelved earlier. Iris quickly got absorbed in her work and lost track of time. She only came out of her zone when her tablet beeped it’s low battery warning. A quick check into her bag confirmed Tikki was back, and she was clear to head home. She got a bit of homework done before patrol, and was thankful it was all review stuff that wasn’t due for another couple of days.

With a cry of “Tikki, spots on!” Ladybird was suited up and slipping out of her dorm’s open window to officially meet her partner and set some boundaries.

The two met at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and for the second time that day, Iris desperately wished she had her paints. The view of Paris was breathtaking, something she wanted to immortalize into paint. Once Kuroko landed, her breath was once again taken away. Her partner was beautiful beneath her mask. Dark eyes appeared bottomless in the dark, and her braid swung, moving almost like a cat’s tail would. 

Kuroko was the first to speak. “I think we should keep our identities secret. If Papillion gets one of us, it’ll be harder for him to get the other if we don’t know each other.”

Ladybird agreed, not wanting anyone to associate the paint covered girl with the new hero of Paris. “We can still get to know each other a little bit. If a question gets too personal, or too revealing, we can pass.”

Kuroko seemed to deliberate on it before finally agreeing. “Okay. Why don’t you start?”

“Hmm. What’s your favorite flower?”

“Iris.” Ladybird’s resulting flinch went unnoticed by Kuroko, who continued with her explanation. “It’s named after the Greek goddess of rainbows, which hits close to home for me. What is yours?”

“Morning glories. The way they’re only open in the morning fascinates me, and makes me feel like I’m getting to see something special while everyone is asleep.”

The two sat atop the Eiffel Tower well into the night, only broken up when Ladybird checked the time and sent herself into a panic at the late hour. She was going to be so tired for her morning class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter was too short, so I'm uploading the next chapter

**Author's Note:**

> This is something that absolutely wouldn't leave me alone. As of 8/18/2020, I'm not too happy with the first chapter and may go back and fix it


End file.
